The Blind Ones
by ElementGold
Summary: What happens when Team Magma succeeds in their plan to make more land in the region of Hoenn? What do you do when you make a fatal mistake that is slowly affecting you in real life? At one time, three beings were charged with the duty to make a perfect world, but their constant destruction led to the Gods blinding them and stealing away the eyes so that they might finally sleep.


The Blind Ones

Nostalgia often hits me hard…and on this particular day, I decided that I wanted to go back to the third generation of Pokémon, one of my favorites. It was all because Twitch (an online computer controlled by thousands of users online) was starting the campaign on Pokémon Emerald…and just watching that really took me back to when Ruby and Sapphire had just come out.

While I owned both Ruby and Sapphire, Ruby always held a special place in my heart (because I had gotten it first). People liked to hack at third gen like it was terrible, but they were forgetting all the things that the third gen brought us. A new region, Blaziken, running shoes, secret bases, dive, and etc.! I was getting so hyped up that I popped the cartridge into my SP and jumped right into the game.

I decided that, while I loved my old file, I really wanted to start this game over from the beginning, really take it all in again and play it as if it was something brand new. So, I started my game, chose my female character with my usual name/handle, and was soon on my way to getting my Torchic and setting out into the big-wide-region which was Hoenn.

I have owned this game since it first came out…nothing ever struck me as weird. Everything played smoothly and normally. The ambience was bright and happy, and I was back to being a kid again as I zoomed across the landscape battling everything and everyone that got in my way. Gym-after-Gym, I was in heaven.

When I had finally gotten to the top of the volcano via the cable-car there was supposed to be a major battle with Team Magma. Team Magma's whole purpose in the game was that they wanted to create a world with more land and less sea. They planned to achieve this goal (at first) by throwing a bomb into the volcano I had just arrived at, and, naturally, your character always stopped them and disabled the device.

Battling Team Magma was always easy…Poochyena's, Numels, and Zubats were nothing for my Blaziken and the other members of my team. Even the Admin was taken down quickly, due to my obsessive level-grinding. After I defeated the Admin, I knew that I was supposed to disable the device, I was supposed to stop them from achieving their goal. But, with a snicker, I decided to see if I could progress without turning off the device. Naturally, I figured the game would not let me get very far, so, I never clicked on the bomb, and instead, I went down the side of the mountain, in an attempt to get to the next town.

Nothing happened.

At first I thought that maybe the device would disable itself if you did not click it. Perhaps I merely remembered it wrong from my childhood. I continued defeating trainers and Gym Leaders…I passed through Flannery and Norman with no problem. But, it was after the battle with Norma…that, something happened. The world began to shake, people bounced around as if there was an earthquake going on, and even started screaming through text.  
I did not remember this part in the game. What was happening? Suddenly, Brenden ran into the gym and said that the volcano near Lavaridge Town had erupted! WHAT?! That NEVER happened in the game!

Now I thought back to where I had decided not to click the device. Maybe this was a sub-plot that no one had ever discovered? I wanted to play it off as such…but still, if the Volcano had actually erupted, if Team Magma had actually succeeded…what did this mean for the rest of the game?

I was able to complete a good portion fo the game before things started to get even weirder. Everywhere I went at first, people just talked about the Volcano exploding and what this would do to their homes. I did not think anything of it because I was sure the game would give me a way to fix things…but an opportunity never came, and the ambience just became more depressing.

The bright colors that I used to know were starting to grey…rain became ash, people started to look sad and concerned. Some refused to even talk to me. Houses were closed and looked like they had been boarded up. The whole place had taken a depressed note. Talk of how the Gods had abandoned them about how Team Aqua was nowhere to be found. Family members were missing, people were dying…and my heart sunk, because it was all my fault.

I was freaked out, but mostly, I just felt miserable because of all the trouble I was causing these people. All because I did not disable that device.

Soon, I started to notice some other things as well besides just the dialogue change. In areas where it normally rained and there was tall grass…the grass was normal, sparse, and the sun was shining brightly. It was like the drought affect after Groudon was awakened. The deserts were now too hot and my character would refuse to walk there…grass was shriveled up and would crumble away after you stepped on it (similar to walking through the ash).

I had been wondering why there were barely any Pokémon to be found (encounters were few and far between), and now, it all was making sense. Pssssht…but this was just a game, right? I tried telling myself that, but, whether or not this game had been affected by my actions as a child, I had to fix it, I wanted to fix it.

Still, how could I do this? Areas where one used to surf were all dried up with rocks sticking up so you could hop across if you had the right bicycle. I had no idea where to go, but finally, in the remnants of what was Fortree City (now just a pile of wood and a single hut), I managed to find an old woman who spun me an ancient tale.

She told me of three legendary creatures who only knew perfection. When they saw something which was flawed, it was destroyed and made anew…so that the world was constantly being erased with a clean slate. But, the higher Gods, knowing that true perfection is an impossability, blinded the three creatures so that they would go into a deep slumber and never bother the world again…would leave it to grow and change on its own.  
But, the world had gone under…people had gone stray, and everything was now corrupted. Team Magma perished in their own fires, Team Aqua could do nothing to help the return of the Sea, and without those three beings, the world was doomed.

It was there that I knew what I had to do. I had to awaken the Regis.

I had never bothered with the golems before. In fact, finding them was often so hard that after I had beaten the E4, I usually just put the game down unless I decided to evolve some Pokémon or start a new file. Still, if the Regis could only fix the world when they could see…how was I supposed to do this? Then the old lady spoke again:

"The Gods took with them the eyes of the guardians three…Red, Blue, and Green."

That was it! Those were the keys! The Blue Orb which would awaken Groudon, the Red Orb which would awaken Kyogre, then the Jade Orb which would then awaken Rayquaza. I just needed the orbs, and I could make the Regis see again! While I figured I could just leave this game alone and nothing would happen, a part of me was excited about this new adventure…this untold story that I had never seen before. Also, while I hated to admit it…I felt like the plights of these people were starting to affect me.

While normally I would play the game after work or in between classes, for the last three days I had been at home, sick. Breathing was hard at times and I was on an inhaler. Even with medicine I was running a high fever, and had the fans going on full speed, even though it was winter and technically early spring. Even though I was not one to believe in the supernatural…perhaps the fever was what made me decide that I had to keep playing this game!

Team Magma had died in the fires of the volcano as it erupted, which meant that if I could make it to , then both the Red and Blue orbs would still be there. Running off to this place, it proved to be true. Surfing was no longer required, so, the trip was quite easy. The Jade Orb…that's where I was stuck. Normally this orb was only given to you in HeartGold or SoulSilver from Professor Oak, and, there was no back-trading, so, what was I going to do?

Running back to the old woman, she looked at both the orbs, smiled, and gave me an item. It was the Jade Orb! She then said,"I was going to give this to my friend back in Kanto for his research. But, I believe you could make better use of it."

While I was dumbfounded that she would make reference to a future game, still, I had to smile. I had the three orbs, I just needed to find the Regis…because my sickness was getting worse. Every time I would sleep, I would wake up and the overworld was covered in more ash. I found that my chest felt heavy, my mouth was constantly dry…and if this continued I swore I would end up dead.

Still, in the original games, you had to be pretty smart to find the Regis. You first had to surf from Pacifilog Town to find the area where you dive and find the secret cave. Then, once you go into the cave, there is a braille message which makes it so that you have to Dive in order to enter a sealed chamber. Entering this sealed chamber, towards the back where the path ends, another braille message tells you to use dig. Once that is performed, there is one last requirement. You have to have both Relicanth and Wailord in your party…Relicanth coming first and Wailord coming last.

It was weird…but luckily, the volcano had made this process easier. Because the oceans had all dried up, I only had to walk around to find the cave. Walking in, I could fall through a hole rather than dive, and fall through another hole rather than dig. Luckily, I had managed to catch some water Pokémon before all the seas dried up, and the Wailmer I had managed to find by the shipwreck. So, evolving the Wailmer into Wailord I was able to trigger the earthquake which would then allow me to find the Regis.

Regice was found on a secret island that you could get to by going to Petalburg and usually using Surf. His trial was merely to wait 2 minutes without moving and the door would open and you would find him there. I was confused as I stood before it. Would I battle it? Would I catch it? But, when approaching the figure, it merely said: "My eyes…" and then a text box opened which read:

Give orb to Regice?

Naturally I chose yes, and they Pokémon let out it's cry before it disappeared. I did not know what this meant, but, I left it alone for now.

Next, I went after Registeel. I flew back to the rubble which was Fortree City and followed the pattern to find a secret cave. Finding the cave, Registeel's trial was to walk to the middle of the cave and use fly. I did so, and walked in to find the Regi standing there. Again, the same thing happened. I approached the figure and tapped the A-button to speak with it. It muttered,"My eyes…"  
…and the same text box appeared, asking me whether I wanted to give an orb to the Regi. Again, I pressed yes, the Regi let out a cry, and disappeared.

By now I was wondering what was going to happen…but I still had Regirock to find.

Anymore I had the SP constantly hooked up to the charger as I flew to Mauville City and took to the desert. Where it had not let me pass before (because it was too hot), my Trainer began to run through the desert, but the Pokémon team was taking severe damage with every step. I swore that I was going to use every potion in my inventory if things kept up like this.

The cave was at the bottom of the desert, and entering it, the trail was a matter of memorization: Go 2 steps right, then 2 steps down, then use Strength. Doing this, the cave opened, I ran in there and immediately tried talking to Regirock. "My eyes…"

It murmured the same pathetic thing, and before the text box could even finish spelling out the question, I pressed A. My body was burning up, my lungs felt like they were being crushed, it was too much…I was going to end this! Then another text box popped up, and I almost missed it because I was mashing the A-button so much:

"Go back to where it all began."

Where it all began? What does that mean? I flew back to my house, thinking that maybe it was the beginning of my journey. The professor would not speak to me, my Mother would not even turn to me if I tried to look at her. Nothing.  
I walked to the place where I had received Torchic. Nothing.

It did not take me long…I sat there and pondered what beginning it could have meant, and for a minute, I thought it might have meant the place where Groudon was sleeping…but then I remembered: The volcano.

It was there! That one place where everything changed because I made one single decision!

Flying back to Lavaridge was impossible because it was covered in molten lava, so, I had to go one city back. The cable car was out, but, luckily for me, through the lava there seemed to be a path, leading to the top. Climbing the volcano was like going though the desert, only worse. I felt a pain each time my Pokémon took damage due to the extreme heat, and my inventory (which thankfully I stocked) was quickly running out.

Reaching the peak, I finally saw them, the three Regis. Hey were glowing and walking around in a circle, almost as if they were dancing. As I approached, they made a single-line, and raised their arms to the sky:

"This world is flawed. The world has gone astray. This world is imperfect. This world must be destroyed."

The Regis continued to glow, and even when standing still, my party was losing health. They would dance, then stop and raise their arms, and then they would dance again, growing bright with each circle. I could see spots in front of my eyes each time my party neared death, and at last, when the final potion ran out, and the party hit 0HP, I was shaking, the Regis whited out the screen, and I lost consciousness.

I jerked away the next morning with my SP in my hand. It had become unplugged from the wall, and was laying open but with the power switched off.  
I checked my temperature, it was normal. My mouth was still a little dry, but the heaviness was lifted from my chest. Over 4 days I had been in my flat on the edge of death, and now, I felt as though nothing had happened. Now, looking at the game, I knew that the world had been saved…but, what did that really mean? If I turned it on now…would the world be normal? Would my save file still be there? I turned on my iPod to make sure that if anything weird happened, I could prove that all this crazy shit had not just been in my head.  
I hated how the idea had never occurred to me before…but I was just too engrossed in the game to care. Either way, I turned on the game, waiting to see what had become of this new, perfect, world.

Then the screen stayed black…and it let out the worst screech I had ever heard.  
The game was broken, a perfect world is one that does not exist.


End file.
